Danny Graves got goose bumps as he stepped out of the bullpen. The second-largest Cinergy Field crowd of the season stood and screamed when Graves headed onto the field to close out the Reds' sixth straight win.

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Sean Casey and Danny Graves celebrate another win. (Jeff Swinger photo) 600 | 800 | 1024

        “As soon as I walked out of the bullpen, that whole right side of the stands was going nuts,” said Graves, who intentionally walked Barry Bonds with two outs before finishing Friday night's 4-3 victory over the Giants. “That's the first time I've had chills since the '99 playoff with the Mets."

        The crowd noise helped the Reds rally for the winning run in the eighth inning. Adam Dunn singled with two outs and Aaron Boone doubled, tying it. Todd Walker singled to right for a 4-3 lead.

        Giants manager Dusty Baker wanted reliever Felix Rodriguez to intentionally walk Walker, but catcher Benito Santiago couldn't hear him yelling from the dugout because the crowd was so loud.

        “It was similar to a basketball arena at that time,” Baker said. “There was big-time noise.”

        Graves hopes the fans will start turning out in bigger numbers even when Barry Bonds isn't in town.

        “Tonight the fans came to see Bonds play," said Graves. “I hope they now can say, 'Who doesn't want to see the Reds play? They're exciting.' We don't win 10-2. That's boring.”

        While the Reds players formed a celebration line, the public address announcer excitedly informed the fans that they were now in first place. Last season, the latest the Reds were in first place was May 1, the day Deion Sanders was called up and homered to set up a win. Sanders went into a free-fall and so did the Reds, who wound up losing 96 games.

        “I hope we can have the same kind of conversation in August and September, about being in first place,” Graves said.

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